Each year, the Horror Writers Association gives out the Bram Stoker Lifetime Achievement Award. In 2011, the winners are Ellen Datlow and Al Feldstein.

Ellen Datlow

Ellen Datlow is unquestionably one of the most influential editors in the history of the horror genre. Her long-running The Year’s Best Fantasy and Horror (which she co-edited with Terri Windling, Kelly Link and Gavin J. Grant), and, more recently, The Best Horror of the Year, have helped define the art of horror writing since 1988.

Other acclaimed works she’s edited include Inferno, Poe: 19 New Tales Inspired by Edgar Allan Poe, Darkness: Two Decades of Modern Horror, Lovecraft Unbound, The Beastly Bride (with Terri Windling), Teeth: Vampire Tales (also with Terri Windling), and Haunted Legends (with Nick Mamatas). Forthcoming are Supernatural Noir, Naked City: Tales of Urban Fantasy, Blood and Other Cravings, and the young adult dystopian anthology After (the last with Windling).

She was fiction editor of OMNI Magazine and SCIFICTION and has won multiple Locus Awards, Hugo Awards, Stoker Awards, International Horror Guild Awards, World Fantasy Awards, and The Shirley Jackson Award for her editing. She was named recipient of the 2007 Karl Edward Wagner Award, given at the British Fantasy Convention for “outstanding contribution to the genre.” Ellen also co-curates the long-running Fantastic Fiction at KGB reading series in New York City’s east village.

Ellen, who will be attending the gala Stoker Awards presentation in Long Island on June 18 to receive the award in person, said, “WOW! I’m honored, and a bit taken aback–I’ve still got a lot more editing to do (I hope). Thank you.”

Al Feldstein

Al Feldstein is one of the most influential figures in the history of horror comics and graphic novels. Al arrived at the legendary company EC Comics in 1948, and went on to serve as one of the chief editors of EC’s “New Trend” series, which included Tales from the Crypt, The Haunt of Fear, The Vault of Horror, Shock SuspenStories, Weird Science, Weird Fantasy, Crime SuspenStories, Panic and Piracy.

Feldstein originally contributed one story per issue as both writer and illustrator, but he eventually decided to focus on editing, providing art only for covers. He adapted stories by Ray Bradbury and gave Harlan Ellison his first sale. His EC work has been reprinted in dozens of different editions, and has been adapted to film (The Vault of Horror, Tales from the Crypt). He is a recipient of the 1994 Inkpot Award from the San Diego ComicCon, and has also been recognized for his work as a painter.

While Mr. Feldstein’s health will prevent him from accepting the award in person, he had this to say: “I am flattered beyond belief and deeply appreciative of the very special honor that you have bestowed upon me…mainly your organization’s prestigious Lifetime Achievement Award. I cannot tell you how grateful I am to be named the recipient of this Award.”

The Lifetime Achievement Award is the most prestigious of the Bram Stoker Awards, given by the HWA in acknowledgment of superior achievement not just in a single work but over an entire career. Past Lifetime Achievement Award winners include such noted authors as Stephen King, Anne Rice, Joyce Carol Oates, Ray Bradbury, F. Paul Wilson, Chelsea Quinn Yarbro, Brian Lumley, William F. Nolan, and Peter Straub. Winners must have exhibited a profound, positive impact on the fields of horror and dark fantasy, and be at least sixty years of age or have been published for a minimum of thirty-five years.

The LAAs will be presented on June 18 as part of the Bram Stoker Awards presentation in Long Island. The awards highlight an entire “Stoker Awards Weekend”, happening from June 16-19 at Long Island Marriott Hotel and Convention Center. For more information on the Stoker Awards Weekend, please visit the website at http://www.stokerweekend2011.org/.

The Board of Trustees of the Horror Writers Association is pleased to announce that this year’s Silver Hammer Award is being awarded to Sephera Giron. The Hammer Award is given periodically to an HWA volunteer who has done a truly massive amount of work for our organization, often unsung and behind the scenes. It was instituted in 1996, and is decided by a vote of HWA’s Board of Trustees.

The award is so named because it represents the careful, steady, continuous work of building HWA’s “house” – the many institutional systems that keep the organization functioning on a day-to-day basis. The award itself is a chrome-plated hammer with an engraved plaque on the handle. The chrome hammer is also a satisfying allusion to The Beatles’ song, “Maxwell’s Silver Hammer,” a miniature horror story in itself.

Sephera Giron has been HWA’s Canadian face for the last decade, working tirelessly to promote the organization at festivals, conventions and monthly meetings. A gifted writer who has published novels with Leisure Books, short fiction with Cemetery Dance and the Hot Blood series, and non-fiction books and articles on witchcraft and astrology, Sephera somehow found time to also work as Mistress of Ceremonies for the 2007 Stoker Awards presentation and she writes a monthly column for the organization’s newsletter.

Past winners of the Silver Hammer Award include Lawrence Watt-Evans, Robert Weinberg and Douglas Winter.

The Horror Writers Association has chosen two long-time icons of the genre to receive the prestigious Lifetime Achievement Award this year. The award, given for an author’s overall body of work, will go to Chelsea Quinn Yarbro and to F. Paul Wilson.

Yarbro rose to fame with her vampire hero, Count Saint-Germain. She is the first woman ever to receive the International Horror Guild’s Living Legend award. She also was the first woman elected president of the Horror Writers Association. Yarbro’s novels are notable for laying the groundwork for the recent upsurge of “paranormal romance” and trans-genre fiction.

Wilson is best known for his Repairman Jack series of novels, though those are only a part of his more than 40-book canon. In 1979 he won the first Prometheus Award and claimed a Porgie Award in 1984. He won a Bram Stoker Award in 1999 and has been recognized by the American Library Association and the New York Public Library.

Deb LeBlanc, current HWA president, said, “Both of our winners this year have made incredible contributions to the field of dark literature. We are very pleased to add Chelsea and Paul to our roster of LAA recipients.”

The Lifetime Achievement Award is the most prestigious of the Bram Stoker Awards, given by the HWA in acknowledgment of superior achievement not just in a single work but over an entire career. Past Lifetime Achievement Award winners include such noted authors as Stephen King, Anne Rice, Joyce Carole Oates, Ray Bradbury, and Peter Straub. Winners must have exhibited a profound, positive impact on the fields of horror and dark fantasy, and be at least sixty years of age or have been published for a minimum of thirty-five years.

The LAA will be presented as part of the 2009 Stoker Awards Weekend conference to be held June 12-14 at the Burbank Airport Marriott Hotel and Convention Center in Burbank, California.

Please note that the conference and the awards banquet are open to the public. Members of the press wishing to attend the awards ceremony should contact Steve Wedel, HWA Publicity Chairman, at steve(at)stevenewedel(dot)com.

Several HWA members enjoy noteworthy reviews in the latest issue of Rue Morgue magazine:

On Lisa Morton’sA Hallowe’en Anthology…”for deeper understanding of the folklore, customs and literature related to October 31, this anthology is a must-have all year round.”

On Gord Rollo’sThe Jigsaw Man…”will break readers’ hearts, and continue to haunt them long after the last page is turned. With this novel, Rollo establishes himself as a name to watch on the horror fiction landscape.”

And, Del Howison and his co-editors on The Book of Lists: Horrorget some Morgue props…”Simply put: if I were to ever pen a list of Book of Lists, you can be certain this one would go at the very, very top.”